May 15, 2012

One of the many low-budget genre films made in the 1958-61 period by the team of director Edward L. Cahn and producer Robert E. Kent, HONG KONG CONFIDENTIAL was an amazing creation, perhaps the ultimate B-movie, bottom of the bill programmer. It’s now available on DVD and via Netflix, so perhaps it’s a good time to re-visit my 2002 review of it:

HONG KONG CONFIDENTIAL

US 1958, director Edward L. Cahn, starring Gene Barry, rating 8/10

GENE BARRY AS LOUNGE-SINGING COLD WAR SPY!

Those who like hard-boiled cold-war spy films, especially those made on a super-low budget, should love this 1958 classic, which features Gene Barry as a US intelligence agent whose “cover” is that of a mediocre lounge singer! Barry’s character is intentionally smarmy and funny, and he contrasts well with the hard-boiled spy action, set in backlot versions of Hong Kong and Macao, with a lot of tight shots of characters standing in front of Asian-looking signs and sections of buildings, often only six or eight feet wide. And of course, an alley is an alley and a warehouse is a warehouse, whether it be in Macao or Atlanta. Put a few Asian details in a dark alley, have a few Asian characters, and voila, you’ve got a film set in the Orient! Like many 1950s spy/crime films, this features a hard-boiled dragnet-esque narration telling you things you just observed on the screen (as well as events they can’t afford to film). Still, they don’t make films like this anymore, and clearly the filmmakers (and Mr. Barry, who is brilliant in the part!)were “in on the joke” so HONG KONG CONFIDENTIAL should appeal to fans of films such as RED ZONE CUBA, ROCKET ATTACK USA, INVASION USA, and OPERATION CIA. As always, director Edward Cahn is a master of pacing. Highly recommended!

Inspired by both Johnny Mandel’s twelve-tone score to the film POINT BLANK (1967) and by an exhibition of lesser-known American impressionist painters (hence the title), TONALIST FURY was composed in April 2012. This is a five-section poem, the first section of which was read as a “prologue” to the performance of “FASCINATION” that I did w/ Daniel Hipolito and Eva Kelly at the KSE 6th Anniversary Concert on April 29th.

The weeds are now being called “grass,” the returning warriors are spending their blood money on designer baby clothes, cancer survivors are being sent to debtor’s prison for medical expenses, the governor’s cronies are making money off prison labor…while we find fresh vision in the beyondness, grasp for chestnut echoes of epiphanies we did not stop to savor as they were unspooling, carry the weight of cover-stories we’ve memorized, and steep ourselves in the kind of thought that blossoms in the Mountain Time Zone at the jazz corner of the world, a world of online classes and astral initiation. I was reading a lot of Pasolini when I was writing this, and I’m sure Pier Paolo has crept in somehow…

Hand-assembled, hand-numbered edition of 49 copies (over a dozen gone already), 10 random copies of which are printed on the backs of Daytona Beach Kennel Club dog-racing programs!

May 11, 2012

thanks to Marc Masters for discussing my poetry in a radio piece on contemporary spoken-word, for National Poetry Month, on New Hampshire Public Radio…an honor to be mentioned alongside Richard Meltzer! Here’s a link to the podcast…

Ernesto Diaz-Infante, our featured guest artist who came in from San Francisco, did a solo set of material from his EMILIO album

for the final set, Ernesto was joined by Lee Dockery (l, bass) and Lisa Cameron (r, percussion w/ cookie tins) for a beautiful trio exploration, with the audience silent and attentive, on the edge of their chairs…

also a fine visual artist, Daniel Hipolito provided distinctive wall hangings (he’s putting them up here, before the show) that perfectly complemented the music…

Bill Shute and Lisa Cameron, before the show….Lisa has been featured at all three KSE concerts in 2011-2012, and we’d never think of doing one without asking her to be involved!

thanks also to Matt Burnett who did his usual fantastic job w/ sound and visuals and logistics!

KSE will probably take a break from label/press-sponsored concerts for a while as we put our attention into other projects, but we had a great and responsive crowd at this one and it couldn’t have been better, IMHO…

Justin Boyle of Austin Culture Map did a nice review of the show a few days after…you can read it here:

also, the esteemed new-music/free-jazz writer Clifford Allen was kind enough to provide a nice advance piece on the concert at The Austinist, which also includes reviews of Ernesto Diaz-Infante’s EMILIO album and Alfred 23 Harth/Carl Stone’s GIFT FIG album: